Suing Not Too Wisely

Seyfarth Synopsis: A district court in Minnesota recently found an employee could not challenge a plan's blanket transgender exclusion under Title VII, when the employee was not transgender but her son was. The Court went on to find that a third party administrator could not be sued for the blanket plan exclusion under the Affordable Care Act, when the complaint did not name the correct TPA and when all the TPA was alleged to have done was to follow the plan's terms.

Existing federal laws have limits when it comes to who can be sued to redress claims of transgender benefits discrimination, so held the District of Minnesota recently in Tovar v. Essentia Health, LLC, et al, No. 16-cv-100 (May 11, 2016). In Tovar, plaintiff's health-coverage was provided under a benefit plan that expressly excluded covering any "services and/or surgery for gender reassignment." Plaintiff's son was a plan beneficiary, who was denied coverage when he sought gender affirmation surgery (and